According to the annual USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study by the University of Southern California’s School of Journalism, which analysed 1,700 films, only 31.7% of the 5,084 speaking characters in the top-grossing films from 2007-2023 were women or girls. The vast majority were cisgender men (68.2%), while fewer than 1% were non-binary.
The results for last year alone are even more worrying, as the representation of women was the lowest recorded since 2007, the year the study was launched. This survey shows a significant drop in female lead roles, down 14 percentage points from 44% in 2022.
Globally the percentage of women in key roles on screen has not changed significantly in recent years. Women accounted for 31.7% of speaking roles last year, versus 34.6% in 2022 and 29.9% in 2007.
Only 11% of the 100 most popular films of 2023 were gender balanced, with female representation of at least 45% to 54.9%. This percentage is still less than that of 2022 (15%) and 2007 (12%).
Gender, age, ethnicity
Actresses of colour suffered even more from this onscreen discrimination. According to the report, only 14% of the 100 most popular films last year had women from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups as protagonists or co-protagonists.
This is four percentage points lower than the figure for 2022 (18%), although still higher than the 2007 figure of just 1%.
Then there’s the weight of age – unlike men, actresses are victims of ageism. Only 3% of films last year featured women aged 45 or over in leading roles, a significant drop from 2022 (10%) but similar to the proportion in 2007 (1%).
“Women (46.4%) were more likely to be shown as parents than were men (40.8%) across the 100 top films of 2023. In terms of women caregivers, 2023 was not different from 2022 (43.8%) or 2007 (50%),” the researchers explained.
Actresses who are both over 45 and from an ethnic minority got even less representation: last year, only one of the 100 most popular films featured a woman over 45 of an underrepresented ethnic group, with Salma Hayek as lead actor. In 2022, the percentage was 5%, compared with 0% in 2007.
“In terms of age, women represent less than a quarter (24.8%) of all speaking characters aged 40 or older across the 100 top movies of 2023. The prevalence of women 40 years old or above on screen in 2023 was not different from 2022 (25.8%) or 2007 (25.8%),” the study outlined.
The only consolation is that the number of women directors, composers, screenwriters and producers remained stable last year. Female screenwriters accounted for 15.2% of the top 100 films’ screenwriters in 2023, compared with 16.3% in 2022.
Meanwhile, female producers made up 24.4% in 2023 versus 26.8% in 2022; and female composers 9.4% compared with 8.2% in 2022. Female directors accounted for 12.1% in 2023 versus 8.8% in 2022.
Actresses also enjoyed a breakthrough in action and animation films, rising from 20% and 20.8%, respectively, in 2007 to 26.7% and 36.5% last year.